Lecture 11: Cellular Networks

Introduction
Principle of wireless networks
The principle of frequency reuse
Cellular system overview

Ben Slimane
slimane@kth.se

Cellular Networks
The purpose of wireless networks is to provide
wireless access to the fixed network (PSTN)

Cellular Networks
Multiple low-power transmitters (100 W or
less) are used
The service area is divided into cells
Each cell is served by its own antenna
Each base station consists of a transmitter, a
receiver, and control unit
Base station placed in the middle or at the border
of the cell
Each base station is allocated a certain frequency
band (frequency allocation)

Cellular Geometries

Cellular Geometries
The most common model used for wireless networks
is uniform hexagonal shape areas
A base station with omni-directional antenna is placed in
the middle of the cell

d 3R

Cellular Geometries
Cells are classified based on their sizes
Macrocells with radius of 1km or more (wide
area)
Hexagonal shape cells

Microcells with radius of 100m or more (cities)

Hexagonal shape cells
Manhattan (city) type cell structure

Picocells with radius in the meters (indoor)

Shape depends on the room

Design of Wireless Networks

The design is done in two steps
Area coverage planning
Channel (Frequency) allocation

Outage area
Coverage area

Frequency Reuse

An efficient way of managing the radio spectrum is by reusing the same

frequency, within the service area, as often as possible
This frequency reuse is possible thanks to the propagation properties of
radio waves

Frequency Reuse
We form a cluster of cells
Divide the total number of channels (frequencies) between
the cells of the cluster.
All the channels within the cluster are orthogonal
No interference between cells of the same cluster

We repeat the cluster over the service area

The distance between the clusters is called the reuse
distance D
The design reduces to finding D!

Frequency Reuse
For hexagonal cells, the number of cells in the cluster is given
by

N I J ( I J ), I , J 1,2,3,4...
N {1,3,4,7,9,12,16,19,21,...}
2

D R 3N

Frequency Reuse Pattern

Frequency reuse pattern for N=3

Frequency Reuse Patterns

Frequency reuse pattern for N=7

Capacity of Wireless Networks

The capacity of a wireless network is measured as

the average of simultaneous radio links supported
by the systems
=C/N, users/cell

The area capacity is defined as

=C/(NxAcell), users/unit area

Acell is the cell area

Approaches of Increasing
Capacity
Adding new channels
Frequency borrowing frequencies
are taken from adjacent cells by
congested cells
Cell splitting cells in areas of high
usage can be split into smaller cells
Directional antennas cells are
divided into a number of wedgeshaped sectors, each with their own
set of channels
Microcells antennas move to
buildings, hills, and lamp posts

Cellular System Overview

Cellular Systems Terms

Base Station (BS) includes an antenna, a controller,
and a number of transceivers
Mobile telecommunications switching office (MTSO)
connects calls between mobile units
Two types of channels available between mobile unit
and BS
Control channels used to exchange information having to
do with setting up and maintaining calls
Traffic channels carry voice or data connection between
users

Steps in an MTSO
Controlled Call between
Mobile Users

Mobile unit initialization

Mobile-originated call
Paging
Call accepted
Ongoing call
Handoff

Examples of Mobil Cellular

Calls

Examples of Mobile Cellular

Calls

Examples of Mobile Cellular

Calls

Additional Functions in an
MTSO Controlled Call

Call blocking
Call termination
Call drop
Calls to/from fixed and remote mobile
subscriber

Mobile Radio Propagation

Effects
Signal strength
Must be strong enough between base station and mobile
unit to maintain signal quality at the receiver
Must not be so strong as to create too much cochannel
interference with channels in another cell using the same
frequency band

Fading
Signal propagation effects may disrupt the signal and cause
errors

Radio Resource Allocation problem

i
j

To each active terminal assign

- Base station
- Channel (Frequency)
- Transmitter power
such that Link Quality & power constraints are satisfied
for as many terminals as possible

Handover Performance
Metrics
Cell blocking probability probability of a new call
being blocked
Call dropping probability probability that a call is
terminated due to a handover
Call completion probability probability that an
admitted call is not dropped before it terminates
Probability of unsuccessful handover probability
that a handover is executed while the reception
conditions are inadequate

Handover Performance
Metrics

Handoff blocking probability probability that a handoff

cannot be successfully completed
Handoff probability probability that a handoff occurs
before call termination
Rate of handoff number of handoffs per unit time
Interruption duration duration of time during a handoff
in which a mobile is not connected to either base station
Handoff delay distance the mobile moves from the
point at which the handoff should occur to the point at
which it does occur

Handover Strategies Used to

Determine Instant of Handover

Relative signal strength

Relative signal strength with threshold
Relative signal strength with hysteresis
Relative signal strength with hysteresis and
threshold
Prediction techniques

Handover decision

Transmitter Power Control

Why transmitter power control?
Reduce terminal power consumption
Reduce interference within the cellular system and
improve quality
Efficient handling of mobility
In SS systems using CDMA, its desirable to
equalize the received power level from all mobile
units at the BS
Reduce near-far problem

Types of Power Control

Open-loop power control
Depends solely on mobile unit
No feedback from BS
Not as accurate as closed-loop, but can react quicker to
fluctuations in signal strength

Closed-loop power control

Adjusts signal strength in reverse channel based on metric
of performance
BS makes power adjustment decision and communicates to
mobile on control channel

Traffic Engineering
In cellular systems, the number of active users
(calls) is random.
Ideally, available channels would equal
number of subscribers active at any time
Not possible in practice

For N channels per cell and L active

subscribers per cell we have
L<N
L>N

non-blocking system
blocking system

Performance Questions
Blocking Probability
Probability that a call request is blocked?

System capacity for a given blocking

probability?
What is the average delay?
System capacity for a certain average delay?

Traffic Intensity
In cellular systems, calls are Poisson
distributed with calls/s
The traffic load of the system is

A h
is the number of calls per seconds
h is the average call duration in seconds
A = average number of calls arriving during average
holding period (in Erlangs)

Factors that Determine the

Nature of the Traffic Model
Manner in which blocked calls are handled
Lost calls delayed (LCD) blocked calls put in a queue
awaiting a free channel
Blocked calls rejected and dropped
Lost calls cleared (LCC) user waits before another attempt
Lost calls held (LCH) user repeatedly attempts calling

Number of traffic sources

Whether number of users is assumed to be finite or infinite